Climb to the highest mountain.

Question

Hello,i´d like to know if it´s wrong to say "i could go and climb to the highest mountain"? This line is in a song lyrics. Everywhere i see it said "climb the highest mountain" but i want to know if it´s somehow wrong to put the "to" word in there. Because it is suppose to mean to climb to the top of the mountain, not like climbing the mountain... Thanks for any help.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Sometimes song lyrics (and poetry too) have contractions or extra words to fit the music or metrical line.

They call this "poetic license."

Anyway "to" is not really correct, but "on" would be a one-syllable word that fits better.

Iamatree · Answer

I wouldn't put 'to' in there. But if it's to specifically climb to the top of the mountain, I would say something like:

I could go and climb to the peak of the highest mountain.
I could go and climb to the top of the highest mountain.
I could go and climb to the summit of the highest mountain.

Technically the sentence without the bold bit I added could merely suggest that you could climb the mountain for just a little bit. And hence, not to the top.

Essentially, if you add 'to', you need to add what part of the mountain you are climbing to.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks very much for the reply. I kinda guessed there must something like this in there... Just wanted to make sure. The thing is that it´s impossible to put anything those lines you suggested into the song because there are too many words to fit the line.

So it´s wrong right? You wouldn´t sing that or is it that bad flaw? Or is it like "who cares, it´s only a song lyrics"?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Hi:

Just sing this instead:

"I could go and climb up the highest mountain"

Climb to the highest mountain.

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